I’m a flight attendant and this is what happens to dead bodies on planes
A FLIGHT attendant has revealed what happens to dead bodies on a plane.
Brieana Young, a flight attendant with Virgin Australia, shared how staff deal with a dead body if someone dies during a journey.
Speaking to ’s podcast, I’ve Got News For You, Melbourne-based Brieana said it is important staff show their respect to the person who has died.
She said: “We want to be as respectful as possible if that [death on board] actually happens.
“They are put in their seat especially for landing to make sure they are secured in the aircraft, but what is interesting with that is when the aircraft does land it is considered a crime scene.
“So the police come on and assess the whole aircraft and the passengers."
That means if someone dies on a flight you're on, you might be in for a long wait.
Brieana continued: "So if that [death on board] ever happens on your flight, expect to be there for a little while after you land.”
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If you've been on a few flights, the chances are you've flown with a dead body without realising.
Thousands of dead passengers are ferried around the world every year.
So they don't alarm passengers, airlines have a nickname for dead bodies so that they can fly undetected: 'a Jim Wilson'.
The name comes from the crates that are used to transport the bodies.
A pilot also said bodies might be referred to as HR, which is an abbreviation for 'Human Remains'.
Dead bodies are usually carried in the hold, but some passengers can end up sitting next to one, which is what happened when a woman passed away on a flight from Turkey to Russia.
A 50-year-old diabetic woman passed away just 45 minutes into the three and a half hour flight when she didn't have any insulin.
Her body was laid in the aisle under a blanket for the duration of the flight - much to the horror of passengers.
A version of this article was originally published on and has been reproduced with permission.
